Several years ago I was working in South Africa, and some friends called to say they were planning a day-trip to climb Table Mountain. They asked if I'd like to go along, and I instinctively said no - thinking of meetings, unanswered messages, and the disturbing thought that I "just couldn't possibly" take the time off to do something fun.
What a mistake. As I sat in my office after putting the phone down, I felt vaguely sad. I finally realised what the problem was: if I could fast-forward time to the day after I missed the Table Mountain excursion, I would have regretted not going. I called my friends back to check in: "Sorry, but is there still room for me? I'd love to go."
We had a great trip, and the world at work didn't end due to my one-day absence.
•••
We all make time for what's meaningful to us. If travel is important, a big trip won't just materialise out of the blue, with the time away from work prearranged and your packed bags lined up outside the door, awaiting a taxi that has been magically summoned.
No, if we're going to choose adventure, we must make deliberate choices. These days, you hear a lot about efficiency and productivity: how to accomplish the maximum amount of work, how to live the most optimal life. But surely there's more to life than getting things done.
Travel taught me to appreciate adventure for the joy it brings, even if adventure is sometimes accompanied by difficulty or hardship. I could always be more productive or take better care of my inbox. Or I could choose to set out on a journey of undetermined length and outcome. What's the better choice? I've found that saying yes to adventure is often better than bunkering down for efficiency's sake.
Last year, I published a book and wanted to go on a tour to meet readers. I asked my publisher about the plan. "Well, we don't have any money for tours anymore," they said. "But maybe you can come to New York?"
I said that New York was great, but not everyone lives there. Instead of a single-city event, I talked various friends into putting together an "unconventional book tour", visiting all 50 US states and 10 Canadian provinces. (Next time, it will be fully international.) Along the way I went to many big cities with long queues of people, but I also had plenty of stops in the middle of nowhere. These stops required five or more hours of driving from a bigger hub city. At the end of the night, a couple of dozen people would show up.
The whole tour was an adventure - not highly efficient, perhaps, but a grand experience that I thoroughly enjoyed. When you set out on an adventure, you're not always sure of the outcome. This fact is an inherent part of adventure and can't be manipulated without losing the essence of adventure itself.
•••
Visiting every country in the world is an adventure like no other. All over the world, I spend a lot of time getting to places, often sleeping on the floor of the airport before another 5am departure. I fly to one place, then to another, and finally to my intended destination.
A recent itinerary took me to 13 stops, beginning in South Africa, heading over to Madagascar and Comoros in the Indian Ocean, up through Nairobi and Dubai and eventually across the Atlantic via London and Madrid. I learned to think in airport codes along the way: JNB-TNR-NBO-KGL-BJM-JNB-DXB-LHR-MAD-DFW-PDX. When things went wrong, I learned to view the problems as obstacles to overcome, and sometimes even a welcome part of the adventure itself.
Perhaps you won't go to every country or enjoy sleeping on airport floors. But I'll bet there's at least one adventure with your name on it out there. When you find such an opportunity, keep the words of Amelia Earhart in mind: "When a great adventure is offered, you don't refuse it."
My current adventure began six years ago on a ferry from Hong Kong to Macau. I scribbled the idea in a notebook: why not go to every country in the world? Thinking of what would be involved simultaneously thrilled and frightened me—always a characteristic of a worthy adventure.
I chose not to refuse this adventure, and my life is so much the better because of it. I hope you'll choose to create your own adventures as well.
Next week: Chris Guillebeau on the self-reliance of the modern traveller.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Angela Bassett, Tina Fey
Directed by: Pete Doctor
Rating: 4 stars
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Naga
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